Olivia Obando’s defense and a balanced scoring attack led the Santa Barbara High girls water polo team to a 10-7 win at Huntington Beach in a first-round game of the CIF-SS Division 1 playoff game on Wednesday.
The Dons advance to a quarterfinal meeting with second-seeded Harvard-Westlake on Saturday at the Santa Barbara pool at 11 a.m.
“Olivia’s defense on Huntington Beach’s leading scorer was the key to the defensive effort,” said coach Mark Walsh.
Allison Bartholomew and Layla Szymczak each scored three goals and Sophie Johnson and Abby Webber each had two for the Dons. Bartholomew earned for exclusions, Johnson drew two and Webber had two assists and two steals.
Goalie Nalani Yim stopped eight shots and had two steals.
“That was the first CIF game for a majority of the team,” said Walsh. “We didn’t play our best water polo but we battled and won a road CIF game in Division 1.”
After leading by one after the first period, the Dons took a two-goal lead at halftime and led by three going into the fourth period.
“We settled down in the second quarter and took control of the game,” said Walsh. “This team does a great job of playing their roles and bringing out the best in each other.”
In another Division 1 game, Dos Pueblos came up short at San Clemente, 12-10.
Emma Gilbert scored six goals in first half, helping the Chargers take a 7-4 lead.
But the Tritons put extra defenders on Gilbert in the second half and held her to one goal.
San Clemente scored the first four goals of the third period to taken an 8-7 lead